Team RECK Volume 2: Shattered Pasts
by JayRenEmMau
Summary: River, Ember, Clara, and Kiara are just settling into lives as students at Beacon Academy, but small and alarming parts of their pasts keep popping up wherever they go. Can they ignore these small pieces of an intertwined picture and enjoy the Vytal Festival, or will they learn to let go of the present and be pulled into the storm created by a whirlwind of pasts?(2nd part of 2).


_**This chapter has been edited and re-uploaded once**_

**WARNING: This is the second volume of this story. If you have not read the first volume, a lot of stuff won't make sense. Go read it.:)**

**A/N: Hey guys! Jay, Ren, Em, and Mau are back. It's taken awhile, but we have no intention of abandoning the story. While the first volume kind of set things in place, this one is when stuff starts happening.**

**Also, we'll be trying to re-write the first volume. Nothing to severe, the plot and all of the info stays the same, but we're cringing at what we wrote a year ago. We may get rid of some unnecessary chapters as well.**

**Okay, that's all! We hope you enjoy the second volume of team RECK!**

Chapter 1:

Four girls, students of Beacon Academy- an elite school for huntsman and huntresses in training- students who were (unknowingly) about to be rung through something bigger than they could imagine, were shoulder-to-shoulder, looking over a scroll at the newly posted schedule for the Vytal Festival tournament's combat rounds.

"Hurry up and find us," Clara James spoke to her partner impatiently, as she leaned into the back of the chair in front of her to see the small scroll.

"Shh, I want to see everyone who's fighting in the tournament." River Bay, Clara's partner and leader of team RECK, said in annoyance as she leaned forward in her chair and tried to scroll more quickly through the brackets that listed the names of teams that were competing in the renowned tournament.

"Hey, I can't see," Ember Egnaro whined, pushing Clara's shoulder to get her to move back again.

Ember flicked her orange, fox faunus ears. Her fluffy tail brushed against her partner, Kiara Sapphire's, leg, who absentmindedly stroked it with her hand.

"Why don't you expand the scroll's screen?" Kiara suggested.

"Right," River muttered, fumbling with the scroll as she selected the settings button and expanded the scroll's screen so that her teammates could see it more clearly.

"There we are!" Ember exclaimed excitedly, pointing to their team's name within the brackets.

"Aww, we aren't scheduled to fight until the last day of the first rounds." Clara said in disappointment.

"That's good, it gives us more time to practice," River responded.

"Thank goodness for that. It hasn't sunk into my brain that we're competing, what with that crazy last minute entrance." Ember commented.

"What's the name of the team we're fighting?" Kiara asked, brushing her wavy, long, blonde hair out of her face.

"Team KOOL from Shade Academy in Vacuo," Clara said.

"So they'll either be really cool, like their name implies, or they'll be the exact opposite," River said.

"Yeah, that's a dangerous line to have to walk upon," Ember laughed.

"Okay, give me my scroll back." Clara abruptly interrupted their banter and reached for the scroll that River was holding. "I want to see if I can find where our opposing team is ranked in their school."

"Maybe you shouldn't," Kiara said as Clara snatched the scroll from her partner's hands. "I think it'd be better if we didn't compare ourselves to them. It'll just make us more nervous."

Clara plopped onto the floor indian-style and kept her eyes glued to the scroll as she searched for the information she was looking for. "Kiara, we're bottom of our school's tournament competitors. We got in by sheer luck. I don't think you can get more discouraged than that."

River twisted to sit sideways in her chair to look at her team. "Stop saying it was luck. We got in because we had a good fight, so stop trying to deny it. And if we're good enough to get into the tournament, then I think we have a chance to get to make it to at least the double rounds."

Clara threw her head back, "Ugh, I'm so sick of all of you and your optimism. Can't you just let me be depressed?"

"Um, no," River said, standing and putting a hand on her hip, "You're on a team, it's not just you anymore. And as a teammate, and a friend, it's your job to keep your spirits up, for everyone else."

Clara scoffed, "Yeah, well, as teammates, you should let me rant when I need to. I'm not going to hide my emotions just for you."

"We're not expecting you to," Ember said, "You're allowed to be upset, and when you are, we'll be there for you. But there's a line between letting yourself be upset to heal, and just wallowing in negative emotions, which I'd say is the equivalent of stabbing yourself."

Clara rolled her eyes and turned away from her teammates, "Don't tell me not to get upset. You guys don't even know me. Just because we're on a team doesn't make us best friends forever. I put on a mask everyday for you, but you wouldn't even know it."

River paused for a moment. When she took a step forward her voice was firm. "I get that; I really do. But right now, it's not about being best friends or even liking each other. I consider you a friend, but even if you never see me in the same way, we're still a team. Which means we have to work together. We have to be able to build each other up. In combat, we have to know what the other is going to do without even thinking. That's all I want, and I think we can do that."

Clara huffed, "You think a lot of things," she said quietly.

"Clara," Kiara spoke up, "I… respect you. And I'm asking you to put away any grudges so that we can work together; for the tournament, okay?. I know you care about it, even if you pretend not to."

"Fine." Clara said shortly, turning back around and looking up at Kiara from her spot on the floor "...For the tournament. But you guys have to be good too. No lying about how great we're doing, or saying everything's fine. If you're going to be excited, at least have it be over something good. Like cake... Or koalas."

"Are koalas your favorite animal, or something?" Ember asked, with a small smile.

Clara rolled her eyes, "No. I was just trying to think of something to say… Don't judge me."

They all grinned.

"Hey, with the Vytal festival and the tournament starting this weekend, things are going to start happening. Like the fairgrounds." Ember brought up excitedly. "We should make a plan to hang out with team RYFL."

"There's a parade on Friday to open up the festival," Kiara said.

"But everyone's going to be there, from four different kingdoms," River pointed out.

"Yeah, I'm skipping out on that one." Clara agreed.

Ember's expression sunk, "Aw, but I've never been to a parade. I really want to go!"

Kiara and River looked at each other. "Why don't you ask Finn to take you?" Kiara suggested.

Ember lit up at the idea. "Of course! We haven't done anything alone together in awhile. Thank you, Kiara!" She quickly grabbed her weapon -a bow-staff- and attached it to her weapon belt. Then she grabbed her scroll and made for the door to their tiny dorm room.

"Hey, we weren't done talking!" River shouted after her, "We've got to talk about our training routine for the tournament." But the dual fox faunus was already out the door.

R…..E….….C….….K

Early on a Sunday afternoon, team RECK, and Roxanna, Yatsohide, Finn, and Lola of team RYFL walked around the fairgrounds, looking at all of the entertainment, food, and souvenir booths that had been set up for the Vytal festival and wondering what they should do first.

"Look at that giant teddy bear," Ember said, watching wide-eyed and in awe as a massive, fluffy stuffed-animal was taken off of a shelf and handed to the lucky winner of the game.

"That thing is huge. They really go all out with everything for the Festival." Clara agreed.

"Will you guys be watching the first tournament fight?" Roxanna, the leader of team RYFL asked. She put a hand up to brush her short red hair underneath the black bandana she was wearing on her head. In her thick eye-liner, dark clothing, and very straightforward demeanor, she looked very intimidating to people who didn't know her.

"Of course," Clara replied. "We want to study everyone's styles, and get a feel for what the tournament fights are like."

"And, everyone knows that the very first fights will be the most exciting!" Lola, Roxanna's partner, squealed, flipping her shiny, well-cared-for, blonde hair.

Roxanna rolled her eyes at her easily excitable partner, but her lips curled upwards the tiniest bit. She turned back to team RECK, "I guess we'll see you guys there."

"Yeah, but what should we do while we're waiting?" Kiara asked.

"The tournament is starting in two hours. We can split up and then meet at the arena fifteen minutes before it starts," said Finn, a white tiger faunus, and another teammate of RYFL.

"We should probably make that forty-five minutes." River said, "since this is the first fight, the arena is bound to be packed."

"Alright fine. We'll meet at the dock and board a ship to the Amity arena in an hour and fifteen minutes." Clara nodded.

"Is anyone else starving? It's so hard to ignore all these amazing smells," Ember spoke up.

Finn wrapped a muscular arm and a striped tail around his girlfriend. "You really can read my mind." He grinned down at her, since she was almost more than a head shorter than him. Ember smiled and glanced shyly back up at him.

"Yeah, they're perfect for each other. Go get your food, love birds." River said, shoo-ing them away.

Suddenly, the fourth member of team RYFL and Finn's partner, Yatsohide, emerged into the middle of the group, startling them all.

"Where the heck did you come from?" asked Roxanna

Yatsohide cleared his throat and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his dark-skinned nose, an excited spark in his otherwise calm gaze. "I was examining some wonderful books about the history of the four kingdom's and the previous alliances between them before they became a united quadrumvirate kingdom."

"...Yeah, that sounds… interesting?" Lola said. "Let's go do something fun now! I saw an accessory booth with gorgeous earrings that I have to have!"

"I guess I'll come with you. I like looking at jewelry." Kiara said.

""I want to look at the weapons,"" Roxanna and River said in unison. They looked at each other begrudgingly.

"Clara, come with m-... us." Roxanna said, turning stiffly away from River and towards her friend.

"Uh, sure. Why not?" Clara shrugged.

"Oh, that's fine, just ignore me," Yatsohide said in annoyance.

"You know you'd rather be off doing some other nerdy stuff," Roxanna called back to him with a teasing smile and a wave.

When the three girls made it up to the stall they showed a man their IDs, showing that they were huntresses-in-training, and passed the line that surrounded the trailer booth. They immediately were enthralled with the hundreds of weapons ranging from huge swords to the tiniest of trinkets used in battles.

"Check out these bombs." Clara reached her hand into a barrel filled with small black balls the size of a large grape. "These tiny things are super lightweight, super explosive. We should get some for the tournament." She tossed one up in the air and caught it again

Suddenly, a huge man was looming over Clara. "Those are illegal in tournament style battles," he said in a deep, husky voice. "And I'd thank you kindly to stop rough-handling them. Do you want to blow up this booth?"

"Right, sorry sir," Clara held the small ball firmly but gently in her hand.

The man gave her a final warning look and stalked back around to the other side of the booth.

"I still want to get some," Clara said to her friends

Roxanna looked at her questioningly.

Clara rolled her eyes. "Not for the tournament, obviously."

The three of them browsed around for awhile, marveling over all the different weapons. Roxanna ended up getting a knife polishing guide "Since our team is all blades." she said.

After awhile, Clara grew bored and headed off to buy them all ice cakes, a foriegn treat that was being sold at an Atlesian food booth. River and Roxanna remained at the weapons' stall alone.

River let out a gasp, "Look at these! These blades are made out of pure Styrke dust. A special compound that's fatal to most types of grimm and almost completely impenetrable. This is so cool, I've always wanted one of these!" She ran a hand over the smooth blade of a dagger. It was charcoal black, yet sleek and shiny. The blade was as long as the tip of her fingers to her wrist. The dagger's handle was made of strong wood carved into a comfortable grip. River picked it up, weighing it in her hand. It was perfect- the weight, the grip- everything felt right.

"I've always wanted a dagger like this." She said softly, looking sadly at the price. The blade was being sold at an extremely generous cost, but River couldn't waste what little money she had left. Her friends had been helping her out, paying for outings and such, and after all they'd done, she couldn't just go and spend money on herself like that.

"I needed a dagger to complete my knife collection." River put the dagger back down with solemn regret. "Someday."

Roxanna, who had seen the whole encounter, looked at the dagger. Then she picked it up, along with the sheath that it came with, and walked over to the stall's counter.

Wow, now she's getting for herself. River thought bitterly. Emotions welled up inside her, and she turned away, partly to keep her eyes from welling up, and partly to keep herself from starting another fight with Roxanna. That jerk stopped at no lengths just to make her miserable.

River shook her head, angry with herself. Ugh, why are you like this? She can buy whatever she wants, it doesn't matter. Why do you even care?

She heard footsteps behind her and she tried to shut her brain off. But then she saw the dagger being held out in front of her.

Shocked and confused, she turned around to find Roxanna still holding the knife out.

"Consider this a sign of my peace."

River continued to stare at the girl. Roxanna's expression was blank, but her actions said everything.

Slowly, River reached and took the knife, looking at it. As Roxanna's gesture sunk in, she smiled, the excitement of the day returning ten-fold.

Without thinking, she wrapped her arms around the other girl. "Thank you!"

Roxanna stiffened and held her arms straight. "Hey, hey, we're not on that level of friendship yet. I was just trying to say that… you're sometimes a jerk, but you're sometimes a… nice jerk."

River pulled away, still smiling. "How flattering," she said.

Just then, Clara came back, trying to balance three mini, chocolate ice cakes. "Hey guys, help me out here!"

Roxanna reached over and grabbed two, handing one to River, who placed the dagger into its sheath and attached it to the back of her weapons belt.

"What's that?" Clara asked, raising an eyebrow.

River lifted the plastic fork of chocolate cake to her mouth. "Just a new blade I got." she answered simply, taking a bite of cake.

Clara accepted the answer, opting to shift her attention to the frozen cake. "Wow, these are really good! It's like ice cream except… cake-y."

"No, duh." Roxanna replied

They all laughed.

R…..E….….C….….K

Team RECK and RYFL filed out of the shuttle that had brought them to the giant, floating Amity Colosseum. Standing along the wide metal perimeter of the Colosseum that acted as a ship dock, they could already hear the buzzing of millions of people that waited within the giant structure.

"Woah, I remember when they first brought the Amity to Vale and thinking it was huge. It is way bigger in person," Ember marveled, as she tried to locate the top of the giant ship, but couldn't.

"Uh, don't look down here." River was gazing over the edge of the ship at the ground, which was about eight-thousand feet below them.

"Can we please go inside? I really, really, really don't like heights!" Lola hopped nervously, trying to shove Roxanna along. They all laughed at her and started following the steady stream of people going inside. But Kiara hesitated. She looked at the swarm of people entering the structure and felt her breathing get heavier. A sick feeling developed in the pit of her stomach and she took a step away from the entrance.

Ember looked back at her and stopped. "C'mon Kiara." she called. She bit her lip when she saw the look on her partner's face. "Hold up guys!" she called her friends. They all groaned but stood still as commanded.

Ember approached her teammate. "You good? I know you don't do well in crowds."

Kiara folded her arms and gripped herself. Her eyes were wide and worried. "I'm okay. It's okay. It's just my anxiety."

"But you've been doing so well recently." Ember slowly reached to touch Kiara's arm, but Kiara took a step backwards.

"I know, I know. I thought I could handle it."

"You can handle it. You've gotten so much better." Ember spoke in a soothing voice.

Kiara swallowed. Her mouth felt dry. "I… I hate when I lose control like this. I just don't like loud crowds." She turned her head away and wiped an eye. But she quickly regained her composure. Standing tall, but stiff. "I'm going to do it. I want to watch the fights."

"Hey, don't force yourself."

"No, I'm good. We're keeping them waiting. Seriously, I'm fine."

Ember looked at her skeptically, before sighing. "Okay, if you say so. Tell me if it's too much."

They quickly went to catch up with the others.

"Is everything good?" River asked with concern.

Kiara nodded, avoiding eye contact. "I'm good."

As they entered through the large metal doorway, Finn looked around. "It's weird being surrounded by people who aren't huntsmen. I guess I imagined that they'd be the only ones coming to see a fight."

"The Vytal tournament is one of the brightest highlights of the Festival for both huntsmen and civilians," Yatsohide said.

Following the signs that were hung high along the hallways of the big metal colosseum airship, they squeezed through the crowd and through another doorway marked "Private: Huntsman Academy Seating".

As they walked into the stadium, the sounds of voices came crashing through the air like a wave in a stormy ocean. Ember was holding tightly to Kiara's arm and had to drag her forward to keep her moving. "Come on," she urged.

"The stadium looks a lot different than I remember," Clara shouted above the noise.

"You've been to the stadium before?" River yelled back.

"Once, when I was little," Clara responded.

"Well, they had to rebuild it after The Fall of Beacon." Ember said.

"Let's not talk about The Fall so openly here. Some people get scared easily," Yatsohide warned.

The two teams had to split up into two different rows. River, Ember, Finn, Yatsohide, and Kiara went to one, while Clara, Roxanna, and Lola sat a row down.

As they sat down, Kiara clung to Ember's arm taking in heaving breaths. She stared straight ahead into the crowd. Ember was trying her best to keep her calm. She was running a hand up and down Kiara's arm. "Shh, shh it's okay. Deep breaths. Kiara, I need you to listen to me."

River was watching her teammates anxiously. "Ember, she's not okay. Let's get her out of here." Both teams were now alerted to Kiara's condition and watched with concern. Kiara was shaking now.

Ember continued, "This isn't right. Kiara, Ki! Look at me!" Kiara crumpled in her seat, whimpering.

"Ember!" River shouted. "Get her up!"

"I know! Come on, snap out of it! Kiara!"

But Kiara couldn't hear them. She was someplace else. There was smoke everywhere; she couldn't see a thing. People were running and running. The ashes and smoke blinded her. There was screaming and crying everywhere she turned, she couldn't escape the noise, the horrible noise. Someone slammed into her and she was thrown to the ground, forcing the air out of her lungs. She scrambled up again, coughing and crying. There were men everywhere, with torches. They were coming for her. She knew they were coming for her. "Mom!" She screamed, her throat burning.

"Kiara!" she heard a voice call out to her. River, She thought. But River wasn't here. River was at Beacon. Kiara was surrounded by burning houses. The hot flames seared against her fragile skin. The smell of burning flesh stung her nostrils. She felt arms around her waist, dragging her away. Dragging her to safety. But she wouldn't be safe. The men were coming. They took away her home. They took something else from her too.

"Dude, what's wrong with her?" She saw a boy's face. He was standing there, staring at her. But she felt herself being dragged away from him. She looked back and he was gone, replaced by a dead corpse lying in a heap of ash. Kiara screamed. She thrashed around in the grip of the person dragging her.

"Kiara, calm down, please! You're okay!" Someone called to her. But it wasn't okay. It wasn't okay. The men would find her. They were going to do something horrible. To her and her family. Her mom. And her…

"Dad!" Kiara screamed, but no sound escaped her. They took him away. They killed him. They murdered him. Kiara was standing in the flames, covered in blood. She knew whose blood it was. She fell to her knees, pain jolting up her legs. Uncontrollable sobs racked her body. Then a voice broke through the air. Through the screaming and yelling and running.

"Kiara! Kiara! You're okay now. Look at me. Focus on my face." she heard Ember's soothing words. She looked around frantically but couldn't see her anywhere. Slowly, the fire faded. The people stopped running. They were walking around her, looking excited and occasionally throwing looks of confused concern at her.

"Drink this." a bottle of water was shoved in front of her face. Kiara looked up and saw River holding it out for her. Without saying a word, Kiara complied, opening the bottle and taking a small sip. Her senses came back as she felt the weight of the bottle in her hand and the cold liquid in her throat. Suddenly she became aware of her kneeling position on the dirty metal ground beneath her, and the presence of her team around her. She looked around her, realizing that they were just inside one of the hallways that lead into the stadium. People were still making their way in to find seats before the tournament began.

"Are you okay?" Ember asked, reaching out a hand to help pull Kiara to her feet.

"I-i'm sorry." Kiara stammered. She clenched her fists and bit her lip, continuing to focus on her senses. It helped pull her out of the weird, foggy daze that her "episodes" left behind. She hated when these attacks took away her reality and pulled into the living nightmare that she couldn't control. But she reminded herself over and over again afterwards that: It wasn't real. It wasn't real.

"You didn't answer the question," River said.

"Right, I'm sorry. I'm okay, I promise."

"Kiara, you were not okay. You weren't responding, you were thrashing around and crying," Clara said, frowning worriedly. "What happened?"

"I-I don't know, I panicked. I just blanked… and it felt like something bad was going to happen. Or something was happening. But I come back to and.."

Ember frowned. "It's not normal for that to happen. Maybe we should get you some help-"

"No, I'm fine, seriously! I'm just stressed with the tournament and- and grades. It's happened before."

"Exactly, Kiara! This isn't the first time. What about that time in dust theory, when you had that panic attack? And the nightmares… I know you still have them. It's just not normal." River crossed her arms. "You're our friend, Kiara. We don't like seeing you get hurt. And if something is wrong we want to help you!"

"I know." Kiara looked at the ground. "I'll be okay, really. I just get overwhelmed, but I'll head back to the dorm and get some rest and I'll be fine. You guys go catch up with the others and watch the fight."

"Are you sure? Will you be okay by yourself?" Ember asked

"Yes, I'm sure. You better hurry, the fights are about to start. I can watch it on my scroll."

"And you promise you'll tell us if anything at all is wrong?"

Kiara sighed. "Yes, I promise. Now go."

Ember gave her one last hug and they all said their goodbyes as Kiara made her way back out of the colosseum.

The rest of team RECK walked solemnly back to their seats.

"Are you sure we did the right thing?" Clara asked.

River shrugged and frowned. "I respect Kiara's privacy. And I trust her to let us know if she needs help. But I'm going to make sure we all get the proper rest and care before the fight on Tuesday. If we lose it's not going to be from lack of effort."

They all stopped short when they made it to their previous seats. Lola was sprawled across three seats, trying to protect them, while Finn and Roxanna were in a shouting match with some other students, trying to persuade them that the seats were taken.

"Oh thank goodness you're back," Yatsohide said when he saw them.

"There! See, we told you!" Finn said, motioning towards the REC of team RECK. The students rolled their eyes and walked away grumbling.

"Gosh, it's a zoo out here, trying to find seats," Roxanna said, plopping back down into her chair as RECK joined them.

"I'd say the reserved student seating is almost more packed than normal," Finn said.

"Yeah, but at least we won't be surrounded by a bunch of clueless people that don't actually know anything about tournaments," River said back.

"Hey, where's Kiara? Is she okay?" Lola asked.

The three girls frowned. "She was feeling stressed and anxious so she went back to the dorm to rest." Ember explained.

"Aw, that's too bad." Roxanna frowned sympathetically. "I hope she feels better."

"Yeah, she said she'd be okay." Ember nodded back.

"Well, the tournament should be starting any minute now." Lola called back to them from her seat.

As if on cue, the screens all over the stadium lit up, and an excited female voice boomed out across the crowd. "People of Remnant; Vacuo, Mistral, Atlas, and Vale, welcome to the forty-first Vytal tournament!"

A loud cheer washed through the crowd, and the screens flashed to a picture of the Vytal Festival banner.

A male's voice spoke this time, "The Vytal Festival is an amazing example of the strength and peace that can be found through the diversity of all cultures on Remnant. Eighty-three years ago, our ancestors fought in a battle of power; a war caused by the suppression of art and self expression. But now, today our four great kingdoms have come to celebrate the power that we can hold together.

The same woman spoke again, "So now, let us honor our ancestors, and all of the Huntsmen who risk their lives for us today... by watching our students destroy each other in mock battles!"

Suddenly the screens turned to a live video of the commentating booth. "We're your hosts for the event, Lie Ren and Nora," the red-haired girl said, throwing her hands in the air. The man, who sat stiffly in his seat with his hands on his lap, rolled his eyes.

"The commentators are a married couple?" Ember asked.

"They look like exact opposites. How did they ever end up together?" River said

The opening announcements lasted for ten more minutes, though near the end it was mostly the man, while the girl seemed to want to rush through them all.

Team RECK and RYFL both zoned out for most of the talking, wanting to hurry up and get to the battles. River was staring at the bare arena, thinking about how her team would be fighting there in two day's time. She was leaning her head on her fist which was propped on her leg, when something hit her on the shoulder, causing her elbow to slip. Her head almost hit the seat in front of her, but she jerked up just in time.

"Hey, what the heck?!" she turned in her seat to face Ember angrily.

"Listen, they just said your last name in the list of sponsors." Ember answered, not looking the slightest bit sorry.

"What are you talking about?" River turned her attention back to the screen where Ren and Nora were still talking, but now there were two others with them.

"-graciously supported our largest donation for the tournament. They'd like to give a few words-" Ren was saying.

River forgot about her anger. Her eyes grew wide and she gripped the arms of her seat tightly. Standing there, right next to Ren and Nora, were Alex and Elise Bay. They were standing in the booth in a matching blue suit and dress, with charming smiles on their faces.

"Are you related to them?" Ember asked.

"No, no, no, no! Why are they here?" River muttered under her breath, not hearing Ember. She sat there frozen in place, staring at the screen.

There was a small applause, and Alex Bay stepped up to the microphone. "Thank you very much. My wife and I are very humbled to have this great opportunity to express our gratitude towards our nation. We strongly support the Huntsmen Academies and their goal to bring up strong protectors of our kingdoms, and we feel as if it is our solemn duty to provide them with the support they need."

River gripped the chair so hard that her knuckles turned white.

Nora took the microphone back, "Well folks, you don't get much sweeter than that! Those are some real, genuine people for you, and we are forever in their debt! But, while we're on that note, we'd also like to mention-"

At that point, her friends were all looking at River anxiously.

"River, are you going to tell us what's going on? Who were those people? They looked just like you," Clara asked.

River let go of the arm rest, still staring at the screen. "My parents."

"Your parents?!" Ember asked, shocked. "Did you know that they would be here?"

"No, of course not! But do they know I'm here?" River asked. Panic was now starting to set in on her.

"You said that you didn't tell them you came to Beacon..." Clara said.

"But didn't they ever try to find you? How long ago did you leave?" Ember asked.

River looked at them. Right, they don't know everything. She looked out over the stadium. Her parents had left the booth and were now who-knows-where. She was torn between getting up and leaving her friends, and staying still to make sure that no one could find her.

"Listen, I'm just as surprised as you are. I honestly forgot those disgusting morons existed, and I'd rather not talk about them."

"River, they're your parents! And they just donated a ton of money to the Festival. They can't be that bad," Finn said.

"You don't know my parents. They were awful. They wouldn't give money to anything if they didn't get something out of it."

"But how do you even know that you know your parents? If it's been that long, they could have changed a lot," Clara countered. "They seemed okay to me. What do they have to gain from giving money to support something like this? And top sponsors? Wow that's a lot."

River frowned, "Look, I said I don't want to talk about it."

Suddenly Nora's voice was booming, "Let the games begin!" The crowd burst into a huge round of applause.

"They're starting!" Ember cheered. Everyone turned their attention back towards the tournament.

Nora's voice was bursting with excitement, "One-hundred twenty-eight contestants, thirty-two teams, and sixteen fights in the first round! The first rounds are the team against team fights! Then come the doubles, then singles. But, there can only be one champion to win it all! Who's it gonna be? Someone from Haven? Vacuo? Maybe… Beacon?!"

"Nora!" Ren put his partner in check and continued to speak. In contrast to Nora, Ren's voice remained at the same calm tone. "Today we begin the first fights of this year's tournament. For our first battle, we welcome our foreigning team from Haven and greet a team from Vale's own, Beacon Academy."

Nora grabbed the microphone back from Ren, "Introducing...Noelle Eve, Gavi Starnel, Hedi Clare, and Teddy Bare of team N(i)GHT from Haven Academy! And Arianna Blu, Rocket Islor, Reign Hacrees, and West Wade of team ARRW from Beacon!"

The two teams walked out from either sides of the arena, waving up at the stadiums and smiling.

"Team ARRW? This is gonna be a fun one!" Lola exclaimed.

"Yeah, go Beacon!" Finn shouted.

Ren continued, "And as we explained earlier, during the first rounds, the arena is split into two Biomes-"

Nora interrupted "And for this round, I get to push the button!" true to her word, Nora pushed a button somewhere that made the screens flip into two squares of pictures whizzing past, in circles.

"Nora, not yet!"

"Will it be icebergs or forests? Mountains or caves? Do we have caves? Caves are cool!"

The competing teams were now lined up in place facing each other, some kids were bouncing on toes to get hyped, some stretching to warm up, all of them excited and nervous.

The rolling screens halted one at a time.

"Looks like we've got geysers! And… dessert! Oof, there's no escaping the heat. Let's hope these teams brought some water!"

One of the guys from team ARRW turned towards the commentating booth and threw his hands up in annoyance.

Clara twisted in her seat to face her team. "I hope we don't get hot biomes for our fight. I'd rather have icy Forever Fall lake water than that."

Ember and River laughed.

"Guys, the countdown started!" Finn warned.

River shoved Clara back around to watch the fight, smiling.

Both teams forgot about any uneasiness as they got swept up in the excitement of the tournament and the enjoyment they held with each other.


End file.
